Here’s some bad news for those who have been using Plex for years to stream content from a friend’s private media server to their TV for free. As it promised to do earlier this year when it raised the price of Plex Pass, the service is starting to implement a paywall for remote streaming from individual servers to TV apps. Plex is rolling out the change to its Roku app this week, followed by its other TV apps (like Fire TV, Apple TV, and Android TV) and third-party clients that use its remote streaming API in 2026. Plex recently started deploying a redesigned version of its app on Roku-powered TVs.
Under the new way of things, a media server owner needs a Plex Pass subscription to grant remote access to other people through the service. A Plex pass now costs $7 per month, $70 per year, or $250 for a lifetime subscription. Those who have such a subscription (or the Remote Watch Pass for $2 per month or $20 per year) can remotely access someone else’s media server, even if the server owner does not have a Plex Pass. Plex began implementing the change on mobile devices before doing so elsewhere.
It’s always unpleasant when a company puts up a paywall for a feature that was previously free. Plex needs to make money to keep things running, which is fair enough. But turning free features into paid features is hardly a consumer-friendly approach, especially when open-source alternatives like Jellyfin exist.
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